To ask for your advice - blocked toilet, broken soil pipe under house, autistic DD and new dog!

[Plumbingcrisis]

Have name changed for this because I need to keep the details accurate, but I'm a long term MN reader and poster.

DD is 15, autistic, getting an assistance dog who is due to move in with us permanently on Wednesday. This was already a huge deal and quite stressful all round (the dog will help her enormously in due course, but the first few weeks and months will be tricky with all of the extra demands and routine changes). But we were just about on track to be ready with doggy preparations.

However, our upstairs toilet has become blocked. Fortunately we have another downstairs, but DD isn't coping well with this as she normally avoids the downstairs loo like the plague. She's also waking me in the night to take her for a wee, scared to go downstairs on her own.

We've had the drain guy out today and the soil pipe is blocked and cannot be unblocked because it's damaged. Looks like we will have to pull up the conservatory floor, dig down, fix the pipe, get a new floor etc. I am freaking out, I've contacted the home insurance but won't hear back until tomorrow and have no idea what they're going to say. I've never even made a claim before.

I think I'm going to have to postpone the arrival of the dog, I can't see how we can stay calm and get her settled into her new home when we've got workmen in digging up the conservatory. The cats are going to freak out about the dog, and also about the work, and I'm worried about the impact on them of having both things happen at once. Even getting the dog outside to the back garden to toilet will be tricky, as the way to the garden is through the conservatory! DD isn't happy. But I don't think IABU to say we need to postpone.

My actual AIBU though is to ask - AIBU to not know how how this stuff works, and please can you offer any advice?

Will my home insurers promptly organise everything for me, and quickly?

Or are they going to tell me to get a bunch of quotes and send them in and then have delays while they fanny about deciding what/whether they're going to pay?

And if they do expect me to get quotes etc, who do I even contact to get a floor pulled up and a concrete dug out and a soil pipe fixed?

And how do I generally stay sane with all of this?! We have no family support locally. Can't just move out and stay elsewhere anyway even if we haven't got the dog yet, because we can't leave the cats. I just feel like I'm on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

Do you know what has caused the damage to the soil pipe? Unfortunately if it is age-related and has degraded then I think it is unlikely to be covered by insurance. It might be covered if it has somehow been suddenly damaged though.

I agree, I doubt this repair would be covered by insurance. But you can likely check this in your insurance documents. Don’t panic, can you easily delay the dogs arrival by a couple of weeks? If you can then delay it while you get the repairs done

Thank you, no we don't know why the pipe got damaged but we have known about it for quite a few years. We couldn't cope with the thought or expense of digging up the conservatory floor, but were told that the toilet would be OK if we only put a square or two of toilet paper down at a time. So we installed a bidet attachment and did just that! But it turns out DD has been using a lot of paper when on her period. I think that's why it has blocked up again.

We don't have accidental damage cover on our home insurance, unfortunately...

I don't think it will be covered by insurance. It may be classified as normal 'wear and tear'.

I'm actually more worried about how I go about getting this fixed, how long it'll take, how much disruption and how we will cope. Obviously it'll be great if the insurance covers it, but fortunately we should be able to manage to pay for repairs ourselves if we need to.

Where to start, though! A plumbing/drains company, I guess. But I'm scared about how long it'll be - it's not an emergency, because we have another toilet and it's not like the house has burned down or flooded or anything (thank f**k). But to DD, it is kind of an emergency.

Yes, I can postpone the arrival of the dog as she's living with a foster family who are happy to keep her a while longer. The charity who are training her can hopefully do our delivery training at some later point instead of at the end of this coming week. My life would be easier if we postpone, and the cats' lives. But getting this dog is a huge thing for DD, she hasn't had a school place for four years now and her tutor (paid for by the local authority) is just about to move away. No idea what educational provision she'll have a month from now, and other than me and DH she doesn't really see anyone except her tutor.

Aaaaaaaaaargh.

You’ve known about it for years. That isn’t an insurance job. Just pick the plumber who can do the job best and fastest.

Then get the dog in asap.

How many plumbers have you had look at it, unless you know them well you really should get the opinions of a couple more even if only to clarify what the first one said.

Definitely, and also ask about the other toilet! Is it at the same risk of breaking?
that must had been a lot of loo roll to clog the pipe to this extent!

The soil pipe under our patio collapsed – it was an old sort of terracotta looking Victorian pipe. It was covered by our insurance and they paid the company that fixed it directly. As far as I know we only have to get that one quote but that might have been because it was below a certain threshold in cost.

As well as others advice, I'd also start thinking about how your daughter will handle the inevitable noise and disruption, especially as you mentioned she's not in school so will be around it constantly - eg noise cancelling headphones, somewhere quiet she can go during the day, maybe a day/night in a hotel to reset/get a break (if you can afford it), going to a relatives or friends.

(I also think you've very much made the right decision to put the dogs arrival off as you want them to feel safe and settled with you, not come in to chaos and noise)

Get 3 quotes and don’t necessarily pick the cheapest. A larger general contractor will probably be a bit more expensive but able to do it all and project manage which sounds like you might appreciate

Do you know what caused the blockage? Did it happen randomly?

I would get 2-3 quotes before committing to anything. Also, this is why you have insurance, so don't stress yourself out even more! I would actually call insurance and see if they have a procedure they want to follow for claims, before starting any work. Sometimes companies have their own contractors they want to use. So maybe call them first?

It was very smart of you to postpone dog arriving until after all this is taken care of! Especially since you also have cats!

Edit: Read your updates! I would call insurance and speak to someone before assuming this isn't covered. No one here is an insurance expert. Tell them your draining pipe busted, dont know how, you had no clue about it until it just happened, etc etc. Dont give them your entire life story. This is why insurance exists and you should do all you can to have these repair covered, even if you can pay for them.

Plumbers should be able to dig down to access the soil pipe but they will not be able to restore anything like flooring that has been damaged in the process so you'd need to sort out other workmen for that. You will need to explain to the plumbers what the job will involve so they can tell you if they have the equipment for it.
Did the guy who located the broken pipe use a camera and was he able to pinpoint exactly where the break was to avoid overly exploratory digging?

Take pictures of the area once it's dug out and the pipe sorted so you can match the repair of the base and flooring to what was there before. That can be sent to someone to quote for the job so they can see what's involved.

The insurers won't pay for the pipe as that's wear and tear but they may cover the cost of making good the flooring. You'll need to check with them but also read your policy.

Camping toilet for your daughter? I can't think of anything else that might help.

Good luck!

Not a plumbing job unfortunately, it's serious drainage issues. But I've contacted Dyno Rod tonight and they are coming tomorrow to assess. Getting a quote from them won't cost me anything unless I go ahead.

Dyno Rod put a camera down there years ago and confirmed the problem. Metro Rod have done the same today. I guess I can always cross my fingers and hope that the Dyno guy is better than the Metro guy and can somehow unblock it after all. I know we'll have to dig up the flooring eventually, but it would be really good if that didn't coincide with trying to settle a new assistance dog in.

As book titles go it's no worse that. The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe'

Thankfully the other toilet is fairly solid, it was put in much later than the upstairs one I think and its soil pipe joins the main one somewhere after the blocked/damaged bit and goes straight into the mains sewer.

It won't have been THAT much loo roll, not for a normal toilet anyway. But this one has been a sensitive soul for many years due to the damaged pipe.

That is very, very good to hear - thank you.

If only the soil pipe was in the garden, not underneath one of our living rooms...

Thank you, it's flippin' laminate flooring which is about the worst type to repair as I think we'll have to redo the whole room. It could do with replacing, it's old and a bit damaged in places already. But the timing is just awful! I think I'll have to get a removal company to take all of the furniture away and store it; we've got absolutely nowhere to put a sofa, armchairs and dining table while work is done.

Yes, we've had a camera down today and hopefully the company can supply me with some more detailed information as a result of that.

We've also had a camera down there several years ago; going to go and dig in my files now and see if I've still got the pictures and report.

I think DD would be freaked out by a camping toilet, but I might have a look at them online just in case!

I don't understand your post? Sorry.

No idea re insurance but I’m going to go against the grain and say get the dog as planned. If it’s an assistance dog it will be trained to deal with all kind of situations. My dog (not assistance) is naturally incredibly clingy and needy, I was dreading having my kitchen ripped out and redone as I thought it would really stress her out, and she was fine, she just wanted to hang out with the workmen and be fussed! Besides which, this sounds like a big job and it could be many weeks or months before it’s sorted.

And in the meantime, get a freestanding chemical porta potty (like you get in caravans) and put it in the bathroom where the broken toilet is. They’re not expensive. It can be emptied into the working toilet downstairs.

can I ask if it’s an assistance dog….or emotional support dog?

Something like this.

amzn.eu/d/3BLpIIR

Thank you. Yes, the dog is highly trained but when they join their handler and family it can take a while to settle in - their whole world has just been turned upside down after living with the same foster family for nearly a year and then moving to a new area with a new family. Having them move in at a time of extra chaos and upheaval could ruin everything, even if it's just because they're picking up on the whole family's stress levels. She's a wonderful dog, calm, very well trained. But she's not a robot.

Also we have two cats, who have met the dog several times when we've had her visit for sleepovers over the last few months. And that's gone OK, but it's a massive change and source of stress for them and I want the dog's arrival to be the only thing they have to deal with right now. They're rescues, scared of humans except us, and will find it really stressful having tradesmen in all day.

If it'll be weeks before we can get the toilet fixed, though, we may have to find a way to cope and have the dog join us as scheduled. After a few weeks with us it'll be easier for the dog to manage with building work, and gives the cats a chance to work out how to live with the dog before they're subjected to extra stress from building work.

Just had a look at camping toilets and I'm not sure DD will go for it. Not sure if we can fit one in either, the upstairs bathroom is absolutely tiny. If we put a camping toilet in, we won't be able to get to the sink or use the bath/shower without moving it out of the room every time. But I will definitely still consider it.

Assistance dog, provided by an ADUK charity. Emotional support animals aren't really a thing in the UK, they don't have any public access rights.